Guinea's Conte sacks mines minister

CONAKRY, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Guinean President Lansana Conte has sacked Mines Minister Ahmed Kante, state radio said on Wednesday.

No reason was given for the unexpected dismissal of Kante, who had launched a large-scale review of mining contracts in the world's biggest exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, and a potentially large supplier of steelmaking raw material iron ore.

He is the latest casualty of ministerial reshuffles in the West African country which saw Sam Mamady Soumah, one of Conte's closest allies, sacked, reinstated and fired again at the start of the month.

Soumah had been instrumental in questioning the legality of the Simandou iron ore concession, a $6 billion project for London-listed mining major Rio Tinto.

Kante's replacement, Lounceny Nabe, is a former central bank executive, and secretary general of the ministry of economy and finance.

Rio, which is fighting off an unsolicited takeover bid from rival BHP Billiton, considers Simandou, due to start production in 2013, as central to its future growth. (Reporting by Saliou Samb; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)